


The Dangers of Sugar Rush

by Prompt Cheese (Ketenn)



Series: A Very Gabenath Halloween [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Candies, Emmanuel is Adrien's bodyguard, F/M, Fluff, Gabenath B&A Club Halloween Prompt, Humor, Romance, look I found a reason for these two to be OOC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27164173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ketenn/pseuds/Prompt%20Cheese
Summary: It was ridiculous. He never had a sweet tooth.He grabbed a handful of candies. For inspiration.
Relationships: Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/Nathalie Sancoeur
Series: A Very Gabenath Halloween [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1969936
Comments: 8
Kudos: 31
Collections: GNBCAAC Halloween 2020 Prompts





	The Dangers of Sugar Rush

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again (and forever) to Diring, for keeping up with my fixations and for enabling me by doing the beta work yet again.
> 
> The prompt for this one was "Father, please don’t eat all my candy-"

Survival became an art when you had more than two meetings a day. And it went on for days now, so that everyone could spend time with their families at the end of October without responsibilities.

Gabriel’s mind automatically alerted him that it was his usual afternoon coffee time already, but Nathalie still did not return form the last meeting. They always drank coffee together, it was their routine set in stone since forever. If she was out of the house, he waited for her, two mugs of steaming coffee in hand by the time she stepped in the door. But today he felt too worn out to wait.

The smell of the freshly grinded coffee already brought much-needed serenity. While the machine slowly did its job, Gabriel’s eyes settled on a colourful jar on a shelf in a darker the corner of the kitchen. He was drawn to the cascade of colours, leaving the coffee under the machine.

Candies. Black, orange, brown, yellow. The colours of fall. They looked aesthetically pleasing.

It was ridiculous. He never had a sweet tooth.

He grabbed a handful. For inspiration. It was alright, the jar was still full, nobody would miss a few.

In the atelier, he used his time sipping his coffee to make row out of them, starting from the deepest colour combinations, advancing to the lightest ones. The shades used were very warm and calming; whoever was in charge of colouring them was clearly an artist.

He took a white-peach coloured one from which he brought two of and pinched the two sides of the plastic. It wouldn’t hurt to try one.

The taste of fruit and yoghurt washed away the bitter taste of the coffee in an instant, tickling each and every taste bud on his tongue. Whoever came up with the recipe was an artist as well. It tasted very fake, but _heavenly_.

He looked at the other candies in the row he made and wondered what those tasted like. He quickly grabbed his digital pen at the thought. He _could_ try another one, but he was a sensible man and knew when to stop. He had to exercise restraint and get back to work. Then he can try another one

He quickly went back to the kitchen to wash his coffee mug – something the maid always did for him – and attacked the jar again. He will ask the cook if she knew who brought the jar here and buy another bag of candies for them. But Nathalie _had to_ taste them.

The colours were so fascinating. He looked at the candies, closed his eyes, imagined what kind of clothes the colour combinations would work on and then he sketched.

Peach with white on a brown haired model.

He ate another white-peach coloured candy as a reward.

Deep yellow like a pumpkin with brown on a black haired model.

He ate a vanilla-coffee candy as a reward.

Black with brown on a red haired model.

He ate a chocolate-caramel candy as a reward.

And then he ate some more because why not?

He was working on the fourth sketch by the time Nathalie returned. She was late, but her drained expression and the coffee cup she cradled with both hands implied that she would have rather stayed in the house than meet with bureaucrats.

She stopped when she took in the candies on her desk.

“What are those?” Her tone was disturbingly accusatory.

“Candies.” He was amazed how easy it was to answer casually, just to bring back the peace her snarl had ruffled. “They are very tasty. I thought you might like some before the staff would eat all of it.”

“I appreciate the thought, but I don’t like candies,” she said darkly.

“I know. Me neither.” He stared at the three that remained from those he brought for himself. “But if you happen to have two of the same colours, would you mind passing one to me?”

Nathalie’s narrowed eyes pierced into his very being.

“It’s good for inspiration,” he explained, pointing at the working platform.

“You can have all of them, for all I care.”

To his horror, she really meant it. She put down her coffee mug and gathered the candies from her desk, bringing it to him with an apologetic look.

“No, not this one.” He took a black and brown one from the pile. “That’s my favourite. You _have to_ taste it.”

Nathalie scrunched her nose and looked into his eyes again. This time, Gabriel was ready to counter her sharp pout, plastering a strict expression on his face. She must have understood that he would not let her off the hook, because she slowly extended her arm to take the candy from him.

He was extremely eager to see her reaction. He could clearly pinpoint the moment when the mixture of chocolate and caramel had spread in her mouth. She covered her lips with both hands to smother a smile, but the warm calmness in her eyes betrayed her. Gabriel tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow, compelling her to admit what she failed to hide anyway.

“This is actually good,” she finally said, with hands still in front of her mouth.

Gabriel pushed the pile back towards her.

“I’m going to get some more. I have a whole fall collection in my mind and I need to draw.”

By the time he returned, Nathalie already crumbled the third plastic in her hand and wobbled her empty coffee mug when she spotted him, saying that she had to get it back to the kitchen, because ‘it’s taking up much needed space’ and she needs ‘every inch of the desk to work.’ She also came back with hands full of candies. Not that he doubted that she would.

He could have sworn that only an hour or two have passed, but the amount of his sketches and the darkness outside told a different tale.

After some time, Nathalie did not care about the correspondences, the statistics, the contracts and reviews anymore. She was standing right beside him, commenting on the sketches, telling him which model could wear what on the next fashion show and so on, sometimes grabbing a candy from the large pile they brought back from the kitchen together.

Nathalie was extremely talkative, and her cheeks slowly gained a pink colour he never saw before, but oddly enough, Gabriel found it a positive change. He never had anyone make remarks on his designs while they were still works in progress and Nathalie’s focus on the overlooked side of the catwalk was refreshing _and_ inspirational.

They were talking about little things while he drew, occasionally grabbing a candy or two. After finishing another sketch, Gabriel looked at what remained of the pile, but the last black and brown one he wanted to grab was already gone.

“You ate the last caramel-chocolate one.”

“Oh no.” Her voice was innocent enough, but then he looked at her. She pushed her lips together tightly, but her eyes were glittering with mischief. “We should get more.”

She did it deliberately, to persuade him to go to the kitchen again, despite him saying that it was enough for today. And honestly, at that moment he wanted to. Not because of the candy, but to see her so openly happy, whenever she thought that she outwitted him. Her unrestrained smiles and random chuckles were so unlike the Nathalie he knew, and yet they were so her. He wanted to see more of _this_ Nathalie.

But it was really enough for today. He knew how to bring out this side of her now anyway. It was time to return her trick with a prank of his own and throw her off the loop.

“Not all is lost,” he smiled back and moved a hand behind her neck, sliding his fingertips into her hair.

Nathalie understood the implication all too well. Her smile disappeared and shock replaced it. Her eyes were wide, her pursed lips loosened and the light flush on her cheeks turned into red. And he was not sure anymore if it was a prank on her or him. She looked hilarious, so it obviously worked on her, but she also looked way too beautiful for him not to notice.

His breathing sped up and hers hitched—

And there was a knock on the door, followed by a small click, announcing a trespasser. Adrien poked his head through the gap. He made eye contact with both of them and then his eyes fell to the small pile of candies.

“Adrien!” Nathalie’s voice was too jolly despite what was about to happen, and also despite Gabriel’s hand still resting on the back of her neck. His hand fell as she turned towards the boy. Definitely for the better. Even Adrien seemed uncomfortable and he had no right after _that_ conversation they had in the garden.

“I’ll, uh—I’ll be going now.” Adrien’s chin already disappeared behind the door.

“Don’t,” Gabriel said and Adrien’s head reappeared again, looking at him with huge eyes. Nathalie let out a small chuckle, and Gabriel could not berate her. Adrien really looked funny. “You came to say something. Feel free to say it.”

“I just wanted to ask if you knew anything about my candy disappearing from the kitchen. But I found them.” All three of them looked at the candies next to Gabriel’s working platform.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry,” said Nathalie, completely seriously this time.

“It’s okay!” Adrien exclaimed. “It was put to good use I think. I’m going to ask Emmanuel to drive me to the store tomorrow so I can buy more. I will buy some for you too, if you would like.”

“There’s no need for that,” replied Gabriel hastily.

“Alright,” Adrien nodded with a small smile spreading on his face. “I’m happy to see you both happy. But please, next time don’t eat all my candy.”

“It’s not—” Gabriel started saying, but Adrien shut the door.

“He knows it’s not like that,” Nathalie patted him on the shoulder. “That’s why he left in a hurry.”

She sounded defeated, although he couldn’t tell if he projected his sadness on her or of it was her own. But he pushed the thought away. It was only the sugar, nothing more. But it felt nice while it lasted.

“I’m going to ask Emmanuel where Adrien bought those candies,” he said instead.

Her smile was only in agreement and he returned it only in acknowledgement. Then they both went back to their respective desks silently, to finish the job they broke away from.


End file.
